5-7 December 2024
Mary Immaculate cannot fail to guide our reflections this month, as our triduum takes place just before her feast. At the same time, the Immaculate Conception fits in well with the preparation for Christmas through the liturgy of Advent. Three thoughts can nourish our prayer during these three days of extra prayer and penance for all the usual intentions as well as for those which we bring individually.
The first thought is the significance of the Immaculate Conception, and why God wanted His Mother to be without even a trace of sin. It is sin which makes a person inapt to be united with God. It is sin which places a screen between God and the soul. It is sin which makes it impossible to be flexible in God’s hands. Mary, through the Incarnation, was united with God in the most sublime way that is possible for a pure creature. Therefore there could be nothing blocking the openness of her soul to God’s influence. Furthermore, since her body became the instrument through which the Son of God made His entrance into the world, it was necessary that she be so given over to His action that nothing at all, not even the slightest imperfection, could thwart in any way His action in her. These thoughts lead us to two others which are very consequential for the way we live our lives.
When we think of the Immaculate Conception, we naturally think of the virtue of purity, as in chastity. Mary is the Virgin of all virgins, meaning the one who encapsulates in herself all that it means to be a virgin. So what does it mean to be a virgin? To be a virgin means primarily, in our common language, to have never known intimately another person. But that definition which you can find even in medical text books is a very superficial one. More deeply, to be a virgin means to have always kept one’s entire self, body and soul, for a higher love than that of another human being. It therefore means having kept a close guard, not only over one’s flesh, but also over one’s mind and heart. Mary was a virgin in spirit before even being a virgin in body.
That leads us to our third reflection, which is that the Immaculate Conception inspires us to give ourselves totally to God, without holding anything back. From the first moment of her conception, Mary is given over entirely, totally, to God. She has no desire or will of her own, but only a longing for God, and an insatiable desire to become his “prey”, to use an expression dear to St Elizabeth of the Trinity. The image is a powerful one, which like any comparison with earthly things, is inadequate. The small creature that is the prey of the bigger and more powerful creature has no option but to be taken in spite of itself, and this is an awful experience. But the soul that is the prey of God experiences the greatest delight in being taken, assumed, penetrated by the Divinity. Unlike the violence that one creature can sadly impose upon another, when God preys on a creature, He fulfils that creature’s every longing. He beatifies her. While she is alone, she is lacking in many things. But when God takes her, she finds all things, and even herself, in Him. This is what happened to Mary from the first moment of her conception; it is the goal that every soul that aspires to sanctity must work towards: a total gift of self, holding on to nothing created, allowing the all-loving Hand of God to take us and do as He pleases, for what pleases Him is what is best for us.
May Mother Mary teach us her secrets as we await the coming of her Son at Christmas!
